


Running Hot

by Marchling



Category: Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post 1st Movie AU, Probably Not Totally Medically Accurate, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-14 14:20:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8017339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marchling/pseuds/Marchling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team has been on the run since Leon and Mia offered Brian the chance to go with them and he took it gladly. With the latest bounty hunter on their tails, it's the worst time for Brian to get sick, so of course, that's exactly what happens. Est. Brian/Dom</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god, has it really been FOUR YEARS since I posted a story for this fandom? I'm a horrible person. We're looking at six chapters here, so I hope this makes up for it at least a little. (You want to know what happened four years ago? A full time job, that's what. It's a real time-suck.)

It was somewhere between throwing everything he owned into a car in less than twenty minutes and the mad drive that he and Leon did in his Supra to the meet up point with the rest of the team that Brian remembered the mild cold he’d had since last week having morphed into something was more annoying overnight.

There had hardly been any time to register it, Brian had only managed to stumble into the bathroom off his and Dom’s bedroom that morning before Vince had charged into the shared house, shouting about the bounty hunter who’d been asking around about them in town.

It wasn’t the first pack-and-run they’d done but they’d been in their current house for over four months, the longest since they’d started running over a year ago. Eventually, with the warrants so fresh and the bounty on their heads so high, single men or whole teams would show up wherever they’d holed up and everyone would have to run. Dom set the rendezvous points the minute they settled into a new place and he mercilessly tested all of them in where they were supposed to run to if the shit hit the fan again.

So far, that system and Dom’s drill sergeant mentality hadn’t let them down yet. They’d made seven moves in the year since Leon and Mia had shown up at his door with an invitation that Brian hadn’t even dared to hope for. He hadn’t looked back. As long as they all made it to where they were supposed to meet, he wouldn’t look back this time either.

It wasn’t until a coughing spell caught Leon’s attention that he’d even remembered the aches in his joints, the hot, scratchy feel of what seemed like his entire being or the earlier coughing fit in the bathroom right before Vince’s call to run.

“Dude, that sounds nasty.” Leon said, wrinkling up his nose like Brian was trying to be gross about it. He was pretty sure coughing into his shoulder wasn’t some sort of breach of manners and if it was then Leon could go screw himself. He was driving the sort of speeds that two hands were required for and he wasn’t letting concern about germs get them into an accident they couldn’t afford in _any_ way.

Brian cleared his throat, trying not to wince at that sandpapery pain that had been getting progressively worse. “Not trying to be.”

“I don’t mean nasty gross, you idiot.” Leon clarified while he rolled his eyes, “I mean, ‘I think that’s a nasty case of whooping cough you have’ nasty.”

Brian snorted, “Yeah, pretty sure that’s not true.”

Leon stared at him a few seconds longer before turning his sharp gaze back out to scan for cars that looked like they could be following them. “Fine, keel over for all I care.”

Brian ignored him… since when did Leon have a medical degree?

 

**\----------------------**

 

It had taken them most of a day before they spotted Letty in her car, alone with a bunch of stuff jammed in the back seat. Leon, who’d switched with Brian when he decided that Brian’s coughing was going to get them into an accident, hands on the wheel or not, pulled up alongside her on the stretch of highway they were speeding down.

Brian nodded to her and Letty gave him a closed fist salute. They let themselves drop back behind her and followed along, watching her back and their own. Brian kept his eyes out for a tail as best he could, but his focus was lacking and he knew it. When they met up with the others, he was getting enough coffee and energy drinks to perk up a corpse. No way was he going to let a cold keep him from spotting a threat.

Until then, he’d just have to keep nursing a single water bottle half-full with warm water that Leon had shoved in his hands hours ago. He wished to hell that he had some sort of aspirin in the car and made a note to throw some pills and stuff in his glove compartment next time they settled down.

Brian scanned the road ahead of them, which was empty except for a beat up pickup that they were about to pass easily. He shifted in his seat, swinging around to get a better view behind them but the sudden shift after sitting so long made his head swim. He swayed in the seat, trying to blink away the back spots that were suddenly in his eyes.

Great fucking lookout he was…

“Whoa, you okay?” Leon asked.

Brian clenched his eyes shut as the car moved around him dizzily. If they could just stop moving for one minute, it would help more than anything. That, though, wasn’t an option and even shaky and confused Brian knew it.

Leon gripped his shoulder, “Brian? You hearing me?”

“Yeah,” Brian said roughly, though his ears were still ringing a little. He couldn’t believe that something as simple as a quick twist in his seat could make his head reel like that.

“Why don’t you get some more sleep,” Leon said hesitantly, eyes darting back between Brian and the road. For his part, Brian was glad that Leon had to keep driving… it kept him from being able to stare at Brian too intensely. The last thing he wanted was to be a weak liability to the team but he’d like it even less if they could actively see it on his face.

Brian was about to agree with Leon, since he was doing a pretty awful job of watching their backs and if he slept then Leon wouldn’t need to divide his attention to look after him, but then Leon said the one sentence he was absolutely _not_ going to agree with.

“We’re meeting up with the others soon. Dom will know how to get you set up with a doctor.” Leon said, as though that was supposed to be comforting.

“No,” Brian immediately protested. He’d practically cut Leon off just to tell him how that idea was so not happening.

There was a long moment of silence in the car before Leon’s incredulous voice broke it, “Are you insane?”

“I’m not insane,” Brian protested, “I’m being practical. We don’t have time to slow down for a cold.” He could see Leon start to sputter, phrases like ‘hacking cough’, ‘nearly passed out’ and ‘you look like death’ coming out in a confused jumble, so he hastily added, “Even a bad cold. When we settle down, I’ll spend a day in bed and sleep it off but not until we’re all safe.”

“And I’m just supposed to not say anything to Dom?” Leon asked, “Nevermind he’d kill me just from a leadership standpoint… if you’re sick then we need to know about it but you want me to not mention to your…” Leon hesitated here and Brian genuinely wondered what word he’d decide encompassed his relationship with Dom.

It was tempting to let him try to figure out what to say but Brian wasn’t really in the mood at that point. His head was clearing but a headache was taking over for the dizziness and disorientation from before. He was breathing carefully, trying not to set off another coughing fit. Not only would it make Leon hesitate to keep his little secret, it would hurt like a bitch.

“Look man, I think we both know that ruthless bounty hunters trump bad head cold. Don’t put Dom in a position like that and don’t make everyone worry more than they already are.” Brian said, cutting off any of Leon’s attempts to classify his and Dom’s relationship.

Leon face went sour at logic like that, but he couldn’t refute it. “Get some sleep,” He said roughly, “I’ll wake you in a little bit.”

Brian grinned tiredly, “Thanks man.” He said, leaning his head against the window. He’d take the opportunity to sleep. Leon and Letty could combine forces while he did and with a couple hours sleep under his belt, he would be fresh again in case anyone caught up to them or they got separated from Letty.

“Probably not a good thing to thank me for, asshole.” Leon muttered, but Brian was already asleep.

 

**\----------------------**

 

“Yo, Brian,” Leon’s voice came to him through a fog, “Are you passed out or just sleeping? Wake up!”

Leon’s voice sounded like it was hovering someplace between concerned and annoyed but it still took Brian’s sleepy mind a few extra seconds to wake up before he could answer.

“I’m up, I’m up.” He said, dragging a hand down his face. Headlights of a passing car flashed in his eyes and he closed them again to duck his head down. “How long have I been asleep?”

“A while,” Leon vaguely answered.

A _while_ was a complete understatement. He’d fallen asleep mid-afternoon, expecting to get woken two, maybe three hours later for some sort of dinner and driving switch. The hot sun had already gone down and the sky was black. They were in a more populated area now, instead of the middle of nowhere. Brian’s Spanish was still iffy but he was pretty sure they were damn close to their destination.

Brian swung his head back around to stare at Leon, who was very studiously watching the road. Bullshit. “I thought we agreed on ‘a little bit’? It’s been like six hours!”

“Seven but who’s counting?” Leon joked, still not looking at him. He looked mildly embarrassed, in that macho guy caught doing something nice for another dude way.

Still staring incredulously at Leon, Brian tried to come up with something to say that wouldn’t come out sounding like a little kid pissed that his sneaky parents had conned him into napping longer than he wanted.

Leon’s bravado seemed to sag. He glanced at Brian, “Look, sorry, but you totally needed it. I did try to wake you up a few hours ago but you wouldn’t so I figured you needed it. No harm no foul, right?”

“Thanks,” Brian said, turning away and trying not to sound petulant. He did feel better and certainly more stable than he had before. His skin still felt kind of prickly and hot but his head had cleared which was what he’d been aiming for. The silence in the car hung for a few seconds longer before Brian decided to change the subject. “We close?” Leon looked relieved that Brian wasn’t going to give him more shit.

He nodded, “Another hour maybe?”

“That doesn’t sound real sure,” Brian laughed, though it quickly turned into a cough that he was hard pressed to stifle. Leon heard it all the same, that same sour look coming over his face. “Can it, man.” Brian wheezed, taking careful sips of his nearly-empty water bottle. “We meet up with anyone else?”

“Not yet,” Leon answered. Brian could tell Leon was as worried about him on that score but neither of them wanted to jinx it. They’d all made a mad run for the cars that were up to the speeds they needed, dividing up into Leon and Brian, Vince and Mia, Letty by herself and Dom by himself.

Brian usually insisted on staying with Dom, who was last out every time by his own decree, but this time the bigger man had just stared at him strangely, kissed him hard and sent him on his way. The last five times they’d run, Brian had driven with Dom. He wasn’t sure what had made Dom send him away with Leon. Normally he’d have argued but during their bounty-hunter runs Dom was irrevocably in charge and Brian wasn’t going to challenge that. He rubbed his chest and took another tiny sip from the water bottle then regretfully capped it to save what they had left.

“We’ll be able to stop soon, get you some more.” Leon offered quietly.

There was nothing particularly helpful Brian could say and thanking Leon too many times would make the other man uncomfortable so Brian just nodded. The passing headlights were beginning to make his head ache again but that was nothing compared to the persistent tight feeling in his lungs.

He’d only just woken up, but he was already exhausted.

 _This won’t be a problem._ He thought, clenching his fists. _I can’t let this be a problem._

He was getting the feeling it wasn’t going to be his choice real soon.


	2. Chapter Two

This was far from their first run but Dom still insisted on acting like it was. He wasn’t leaving the safety of his family, safety that he’d been the one to compromise by cooking up the hijacking scheme, to chance or put it at risk because he was just going through the familiar motions with his head half someplace else.

Once they’d settled into their last place, the one they’d just left behind, he had gone ahead to track down the next town and meeting place they’d use if (and, as it turned out, _when_ ) they had to run again. It was a run down bar in the middle of a slightly more crowded city than they’d just left. Blending into crowds was hard enough with white guys like Vince and Leon and even harder with a blond like Brian, but to do that there had to actually be a crowd. Too small a town and they ended up sticking out way easier.

Every time they did this, he drove as fast as he could, racing to that one meeting point, praying with everything he had that his team had all made it in once piece. There had been only once that he arrived to find missing members, when Letty and Mia had been forced to change course to avoid leading bounty hunters right to the rest of the team, and though they had only been two hours behind him it had still been two of the longest hours of his life.

This time when he pulled into the rundown bar, _La Muerte Bonita,_ his eyes quickly found all three cars that he needed to, all parked right next to each other. Dom pulled in next to Letty’s car, killed the ignition and leaned back in his seat, body relaxing for the first time in most of a day. He closed his eyes and let out a quick thanks to whoever had been on their side thus far.

_They’d made it…_

Now, all they had to do was lay low, keep moving, watch their backs and soon enough they would be safe to find a new place to live. He was seriously considering getting off the whole damned continent for a while but that was something he’d have to run by the others.

The car door opened and Dom was moving before his eyes were even open. If it wasn’t for Mia’s unimpressed sigh she might have ended up with his fist in her face which would have been shit for everyone involved.

“You’re tense,” She said, dropping into the seat next to him.

Dom watched her shift in the seat to face him, closing the door with a soft click and raised a single eyebrow. She had the good grace to flush.

“Fine, you have reason to be,” Mia conceded. “But we’re past the hard part.”

Dom rolled his eyes, “We just drove,” He downplayed with an affectionate squeeze to her hand, “Now we have to decide where we want to stay, find someplace where there isn’t already a garage and does have a house that fits all of us and then listen to Vince whine about something in it for the next month. You call that easy?”

Mia laughed, her smile lighting up the whole car. He felt some of the guilt for dragging her across a foreign country and putting the life on the line easing at the sight of her happiness. Of course, that she’d insisted on coming too didn’t really factor into it.

The moment eased the tension in the car and Mia squeezed his hand back. “Letty met up with Brian and Leon halfway through, they all got here first.” She said, giving him the report she knew he wanted. “Vince and I made it about two hours after them and we’ve all been here an hour waiting for you.”

“No surprises?”

Mia hesitated, “Nothing with the bounty hunters, if that’s what they were this time.”

“Out with it, Cara Mia,” Dom said, waving an impatient hand.

“Brian’s sick,” She said, looking serious. “I think really sick.”

Dom sighed, turning away from her to stare out the windshield for a second. The concern in Mia’s voice was obvious. Though she and Brian had been initially attracted to each other, Dom had pretty much purposefully put an end to that by seducing Brian himself. Brian and Mia had settled into a casual friendship that had started with commiserating glances over Dom himself and had evolved into something deeper, two people in the strange place of having expected something higher in life but having made the decision that family meant more than that. When Mia had shown up in Mexico with Leon and Brian, something Dom hadn’t expected, she’d told him that he’d made a good choice in Brian… something that had sounded strange considering what had gone down. He’d been forced to deal with the supposed narc though, they all had, and they’d gradually come to see that he wasn’t the big lie they thought he was and that really, he’d just been doing his job.

That he’d betrayed them hadn’t taken away the sin on their hands.

So Dom pretty much owed his entire relationship with Brian to Mia, something that gave her a bit of an edge when it came to talking about things like this. Leon stumbled over any mention of love, Vince sulked even still and Letty had decided she didn’t care nearly as much as she thought she did. Even Brian seemed to tip toe around it, as if he wasn’t sure what to do about someone that actually loved him but, in Brian’s opinion, had no reason to whatsoever. If anyone was going to give it to him straight, it would be Mia first and Brian last.

“I noticed that,” He admitted, glancing back to her. “He’s had a cold for days.”

“I think this is a little bit beyond a cold, Dominic.” Mia answered.

Dom narrowed his eyes, more concerned than he had been even that morning when he’d seen how tired and ragged Brian looked and had made the choice to send him with Leon to get him as far from a fight he probably wasn’t up for as possible. “What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s got a hacking cough, he’s squinting like the lights are shards of glass in his eyes and I’m pretty sure he’s got a fever.” Mia said, obviously worried and annoyed all at the same time. That was kind of a dangerous combination on Mia… Dom didn’t envy Brian for bringing it out one bit. “If he says he’s fine one more time…” She trailed off, but the threat was clear.

Dom might have smiled at that, but there was a tense sort of dread spilling out of his heart. They’d had such good luck so far…

There was nothing else to do but to head in and see Brian himself. Without a word to Mia, Dom left the car and headed into the bar, which seemed as slow as it had the first night he’d scoped it out. Mia slammed her door, obviously still a little on edge from the move, Brian and then Dom being less than courteous. With a sigh, Dom slowed down and held out his arm for Mia to take. She did, but neither one of them said anything to the other. Fine by him.

Inside, Dom quickly found the rest of his team, all sitting around a beat up table towards the back. There were a few empty beer bottles - probably Vince, the damned idiot - and mostly empty plates stacked in the middle. Letty and Leon were talking and laughing about something Dom couldn’t hear and Vince was staring at some women sitting at the bar and making eyes at him. He could feel Mia’s body tense at the sight and tried not to react. He wasn’t going to touch that for anything.

Even as Dom took in the sight of the rest of his team, safe and whole, his focus was on Brian. The blond was sitting in an uncomfortable slouch, as though he’d been trying to keep up appearances but had almost given up, with a spoon in one hand and a mostly-full bowl of some sort of stew looking stuff sitting inside. Mia probably would have been happy to tell him how little of it had been eaten and how long Brian had taken to make even that small dent but she was still focused on, ah, _other things._

Letty noticed him first, an old girlfriend sense that had mostly gotten thrown to the wayside over the last year. She nodded at him, face impassive, until she too noticed Mia and shot him an amused grin. Dom returned it with an eyeroll.

“Nice of you to show up.” She greeted, like she always did, when the Torettos reached the table.

“Good drive, Letty?” He asked, only half listening to the answer.

He could hear the smirk in her voice all the same, “Got here first.”

“Oh Jesus,” Leon said sourly, like this had been a topic of conversation for a while now, “You were about thirty seconds ahead of Brian and I!”

With those two bickering and Vince and Mia stumbling all over each other, Dom was left to talk to Brian with a little more privacy. “Hey,” He said, dropping down into the seat next to him.

Brian almost violently started, as though he hadn’t even noticed Dom walking in. He blinked, “Hey, Dom.”

Barely managing to suppress the wince that almost came automatically at the raw sound of Brian’s voice, Dom reached out and gave Brian’s hand a quick squeeze, the most he deemed safe out in the open like they were. Some towns they’d lived in seemed not to care that they were together but until they knew that, it was better to play it safe… especially in Mexico. Normally he wouldn’t have even done that but he had a feeling that Brian was going to need a reminder that they were in this whole crazy thing together.

Brian flashed him a quick smile but it seemed exhausted.

“How you feelin’?” Dom asked, with another quick glance at Vince. The last thing that was going to get Brian to open up was Vince’s heckling.

Though he seemed annoyed with the question, Brian answered readily enough, “Annoying cold,” He admitted this as though it was both a great surprise and _not_ a huge understatement, “But I’m ready to head out.”

His sister’s eyes were practically burning holes into the side of his head. He knew exactly what she wanted him to say... that they were going to stay in town until Brian felt better, to push him for a better answer, to do anything _but_ what he was going to actually do.

“Finish some more of that soup. I’m going to go settle up at the bar. Did anyone stop and get some more supplies?” He asked, surveying the rest of them and purposefully ignoring Mia’s outrage. “We’re not stopping for as long as we can go.”

Leon nodded, “I loaded my car with snacks and, um, stuff when we got here.” He said, with a quick glance at Brian, who was half-heartedly giving his dinner a second chance.

“Go divvy that stuff up between the cars.” He directed, glad when at least someone in his team jumped up to do as he asked. He jerked his head to the rest of them, pulling them from the table. Normally Brian would have been seriously pissed to be left out, but it was probably even more telling than his inability to finish dinner that not only did he not care, he hadn’t even noticed.

Leon had lingered to see what Dom wanted to say and Dom immediately clapped him on the shoulder. “You look tired,” He said.

“Brian drove for about the first five hours.” He admitted. Behind them, Brian launched into a harsh, hacking cough that nearly had him bent double. Dom headed over to him as quick as he could but he still heard Leon continue, “Then _that_ started happening waaaay too much.”

 Though Brian’s skin had been nearly grey pale only seconds before he’d started coughing, by the time Dom reached him he was already flushed red with the effort of getting enough air through his obviously congested lungs. Once he was at Brian’s side, he knelt down to try to get a better look at him. “Brian?”

As if to tell him to quit hovering, Brian shook his head almost angrily and pushed the chair back from the table and away from Dom. “I’m…” He started, breathing in carefully as the coughing began to trail off, “I’m fine. It’s fine.”

It was obvious that he wasn’t going to give an inch. It was even more obvious that eventually it wasn’t going to be a choice. Either way, Dom was going to choose his battles. Brian wanted to leave and that was the smart thing to do. A group of outsiders with flashy cars was enough, even if they tried to keep a low profile and they kept the paint colors down to a dull roar. Add in a pretty white boy with a hacking cough and they got even more noticeable. Reluctantly, Dom stood again, watching as Brian caught his breath.

He turned back to the team. “Leon, switch out Brian’s stuff to my car and make sure everyone has some food and water to last them for a while. You said you got a chance to chill while Brian drove?” He asked, waiting for the confirmation. “Alright, pair up with Letty and give her a chance to sleep. Vince will drive her car. Letty, check over the cars with Vince.”

Leon, Letty and Vince all gave him serious nods of confirmation and walked out quickly. None of them glanced backwards at Brian but it was obvious in the way they rushed to follow his orders that they were concerned. The stakes were getting that much higher.

“And I’m supposed to do what?” Mia asked, hands on her hips.

“Flirt with that bartender a little so he’s less likely to want to sell us out.” Dom said, a job he didn’t relish giving her. He’d of kept Letty for it but Vince was half-useless when it came to finer mechanics. “Do a good job and I’ll give you two minutes to tell me how I’m making a huge mistake not sending Brian to a hospital or something.”

Mia pursed her lips and stared at him with a face so intense that she instantly reminded him of his mother, watching him and knowing exactly what was going on in his head but not wanting to give anything away so she could see what he’d do. Mia probably didn’t know him as well but after a few seconds she seemed to give up. Hopefully, she knew that he didn’t like pushing Brian any more than she did but they had to get away while he still could. It was pretty obvious that he was going to crash and burn, so their only choice was to decide where. The further away from bounty hunters that place was the better.

She nodded once and went over to the bar, an extra bit of swing already in her hips. He purposefully didn’t look as she started talking to the bartender and instead got the attention of one of the few waitresses in the place and got his tab closed up. He left a good tip, not too much to call attention to themselves but generous enough that if someone did come by looking for them the waitress wouldn’t rush to sell them out.

That done and Mia still working her magic, Dom was left with Brian who had looked to have only eaten a few more mouthfuls. “You ready?” He asked.

Brian didn’t nod and Dom had to wonder if it was because his head hurt. Instead, he stood up from the table and dropped his spoon down. “Yeah, all set.”

“You’re driving with me.” Dom told him, watching Brian’s stiff movements. They walked towards the door side by side and Dom tapped Mia’s arm on the way out. He heard her make a joke to the bartender, who laughed too hard for how funny it was.

“You want a break? I slept most of the way here.” Brian offered.

Was there a diplomatic way of saying ‘Don’t be a fucking idiot’ to a boyfriend who already got touchy if any implication of weakness came up? Probably not but luckily for Dom he had a pretty good excuse already built in. “Nah, I got a next location in mind. I’m too wired anyway. You might as well chill.”

“You sure? I can follow directions.” Brian offered again, pressing for reasons beyond what Dom could figure out. He’d given Brian an out, was it too much to ask that his lover take it gracefully?

Mia caught up with them and tucked her arm into Brian’s. “But can Dom actually _give_ coherent directions is the real question.”

Brian smiled but it was strained as though he wanted to laugh but knew better and was trying to suppress it. With the coughing that Dom had already heard, he could understand why he wanted to avoid anything that might set another bout of it off. Mia seemed to catch it too and gave Dom another dire glance, as if Brian was about to keel over dead. His lover was sick, that was for sure, and Dom had the bad feeling that it was going to be pretty bad when Brian actually gave in to it but he was also pretty sure that Mia was being her regular dramatic self. Not that he was ever going to tell her that. He had enough problems on his plate.

The three walked out to the parking lot where Leon, Letty and Vince were ready and waiting. “All right,” Dom started, giving his usual run-through for the second leg of their escapes. The next location, orders to stick close and keep from calling attention to themselves, the regular spiel about honking twice if anyone needed to stop and about trying to cut ahead to ride alongside his car to let him know that they’d spotted a tail. That had only been once, luckily, but it never hurt to go over it again.

“We got it, Papa.” Letty said, crossing her arms and hitching a hip to give off her regular vibe of cool and in charge.

“Be careful, Leticia.” Dom answered.

He nodded to the cars and they all broke up to where there were supposed to be. He and Brian walked over to his car and he could see Brian’s bag sitting in the back seat already, Leon’s work. Beside it was all the bottled water they could ever need. Brian saw it and grinned. “I’ve been working on three quarters of lukewarm water since we left. Leon’s being a smartass.”

Leon was probably just being prepared and concerned but far be it for Brian to see that. In Brian’s seat was a bag from a convenience store with some Mexican brand of cold pills, tissues and anything else that looked like it could work for a sick person. “Jesus, man.” Brian said when he’d moved the bag, sat down and opened it up to inspect the contents.

Dom was glad to see it. “Take some of those pills.”

Brian looked over the box. “My translations aren’t so hot but I’m pretty sure he got the kind that makes you sleepy.”

“So? I’m driving, you can sleep.” Dom said, “Take them.”

The blond looked like he wanted to fight about it for a while longer but Dom gave him a hard look, hoping to show him just how pointless that would be. Either Brian caught the look and the meaning behind it and decided to quit while he was ahead or he really was too tired to fight it.

Dom sort of hoped it was the first one.

Brian knocked back the pills with such an exaggerated, slow swallow that Dom almost groaned, and not because he was turned on. That had looked painful.

“How far away are you thinking?” Brian asked, settling back against the seat with one hand still gripping his water bottle as though he knew he’d be coughing in seconds and would need it.

Dom could have pretended to not be sure but Brian would see right through that. He always had to have at least the next two locations stuck in his mind. He wouldn’t put his family at risk any more than he already had. “About eight hours.”

“Long drive.” Brian commented.

“I want to be sure we lost them. ‘Sides, further we go, chances are longer we can stay.” Dom pointed out. “You’ll like this one. It’s a beach town and they’re more used to people renting or vacationing.”

Brian glanced at him with a smile, “What you’re trying to say is ‘You won’t stick out so much, Blondie.’”

Dom reached out and ran his hand through Brian’s blond curls. “I meant, _we_ won’t stick out as a group and you can surf, but sure, you won’t stick out so much, Blondie.”

With a wide grin, Brian started laughing. All too soon, that laugh turned into a hacking cough. Brian fumbled with the cap to his water but couldn’t seem to get it fast enough. Dom pulled the thing out of his hands and undid the cap, passing the cool water over to Brian. Sipping it clearly helped but only so much. “Shut up.” Brian said, voice hoarse from the latest fit.

“I didn’t say a word.” Dom protested. He kept his eyes on the road but kept darting glances over to Brian. His cheeks were flushed red from the force of his coughs and he was breathing rapidly to try and make up for the oxygen lost.

“I can hear your thoughts from there.” Brian said, “I’m okay.”

“Get some sleep.” Dom instructed. 

Dom was waiting for an argument, because apparently illness brought Brian to his most stubborn, but he didn’t get one. The other man slid down in his seat and pressed his face against the cool glass of the window. He figured there was a fever involved but didn’t push it and ask. Whatever cold pill Leon had bought was definitely going to include something to knock Brian down a few degrees.

He was aiming to put as many miles behind them while he could. His attention was pulled in what was beginning to feel like twenty different directions. He kept an eye on the road, on the team, on Brian, on his gas gage, on the signs and mile markers around them. He didn’t have enough eyes to go around, but he had to make it work. He kept shifting in his seat, restless and wired, like he told Brian. He wouldn’t be able to power down until they were where they needed to be.

Every mile closer, Dom sent up a little thanks.

He wasn’t the only one full of restless energy, though. Brian’s sleep looked tense, painful and pretty much anything that didn’t also mean relaxed. He kept coughing, a raw hacking cough that was beginning to sound wet. His forehead glistened with sweat, so much so that Dom kept some of the windows down, hoping to cool him off. He didn’t want to waste gas on the A/C, but pretty soon he was thinking he was going to have to. That probably wasn’t what he was supposed to do, some old rhyme about fevers echoed in the back of his head, but Brian looked so miserable it only seemed right.

Still, he was pretty conked out, for all that.

They made it six hours and one bathroom break (Vince, while Letty cackled) before anything happened.

Dom had been glancing at Brian every once and a while, touching his cheek to check his temperature and listening for changes in his breathing as often as he could. The sun was just coming up but Brian had been sleeping so long Dom thought it would make up for the early hour. He’d been figuring that Brian would be due to wake up soon, so he’d been watching out for that too.

So when Brian shot forward, gasping and shaking, he’d scared the fuck out of Dom.

“Jesus! Brian?” Dom asked, slowing down so he didn’t accidentally kill them and reaching out a hand to grab the back of Brian’s neck. “Fuck,” He swore under his breath when he felt how hot Brian’s skin was. He hadn’t been so hot not even an hour ago.

“Gotta… gonna be…” Brian panted, his hand already pulling at the handle for the door.

“Wait, baby, wait.” Dom said, reaching across Brian and holding the door shut as he pulled the car over as quick as he could. If he’d had another hand, he would have honked the horn to let the others know but he was pretty damn sure that the squealing tires were going to be a dead giveaway.

The second they were stopped, still rolling even, Dom let he door go and Brian practically fell out.

Dom opened his door and ran around to Brian’s side, just in time to see his lover on his hands and knees, heaving his guts up on the sandy shoulder of the highway. One of the others honked their horns and Dom was glad they’d noticed enough to stop.

He dropped down next to Brian and wrapped a hand under his stomach to keep him upright and not face down in his own puddle of puke. “Just get it up, Bri.” He said softly. “You’re gonna be okay.” That he’d make damn sure of. He was trying to keep cool but the way that Brian’s puking turned into dry heaves broken up by gasping for air was sending a cold tingle of dread down his spine.

“What the fuck happened to two honks to pull over, Dom, what’s the… Holy shit…” Vince’s voice went from pissed off to grossed out in ten seconds flat.

“Get me a water bottle.” Dom directed. He heard the door to the car open and leaned down to Brian’s ear, “You gotta breathe, okay? Calm down, just breathe.”

The muscles of Brian’s stomach were rock hard and spasming with each new bout. Dom used the hand already around him to try and massage them into giving up. He felt a cool water bottle press against his arm and grabbed it with his free hand, “Thanks,” He said shortly. He heard Vince retreat when there wasn’t a new order to fulfill. Dom didn’t blame him. “Can you sit up, Bri? Drink some of this.”

Getting Brian off his hands and knees to drink was slow going. Brian seemed so out of it he hardly knew which way was up and that freaked Dom out more than he’d say. The blond’s long legs were sprawled out and Dom got him leaning up against his chest. The car door would have been better, but the metal was probably already hot from the drive and the early morning sun.

“Can you drink this, Bri? Slow, okay?” Dom said. He held the water bottle up to Brian’s lips and tilted it. Once some cool water hit, Brian’s hand came up to hold the bottle himself. His hands were shaking, so Dom held it too. He tried to tell himself that waking up and needing to immediately hurl would throw anyone off their game and make them shake but that didn’t make him any less worried. Brian hadn’t said a word since either and that wasn’t a damn bit reassuring.

Mia came around the other side, “Dom? What’s wrong?” She asked, Brian’s wide open door hiding them from her side.

She stepped around it and the answer was pretty fucking obvious, Dom thought. She winced and stepped around Brian’s puke to kneel next to them and press her hand against Brian’s forehead. “Dom, he’s burning up.”

“I can feel that, Mia.” He answered, because he could.

“You should have stopped sooner!”

Dom grit his teeth, “Fifteen, twenty minutes ago he wasn’t nearly this bad off. He woke up and had to puke, out of nowhere.”

“So his fever is spiking,” She concluded, catching up to where Dom’s mind had been since Brian had shot awake nauseous and out of it.

There were no good options here, Dom knew. They could stop, which Brian obviously needed, but they ran the risk of the bounty hunters catching up. They could keep going to avoid that but Brian seemed like he was hitting some sort of crisis point, and that should happen with a bed and running water, at the very least. His lover might be most comfortable in a car but that wasn’t really working anymore.

Mia’s concerned face shifted from Brian to Dom and mixed in with a bit of pity. She knew the choices as well as he did.

There _wasn’t_ really a choice.

“Leon!” Dom shouted, turning away from Brian so he wasn’t yelling right in his ear. Leon came around the car damn quick and Dom had a vision of Leon, Letty and Vince awkwardly shifting foot to foot around the other side of the car.

“Yeah, Dom?” 

“Take Letty, find a motel that’s got at least two rooms. The more secluded the better. Definitely someplace were we can park the cars in back, or just out of sight. That’ll be a quick way to spot us. Tell Vince to keep his eyes out until you get back.” Dom said. He heard Mia’s sigh of relief and he tried not to get pissed at her. He wasn’t going to risk Brian, no fucking way. She should know that.

Leon nodded and glanced over at Brian, who was still slowly sipping water like it was the only thing keeping him from hacking up a lung. There was clear indecision on Leon’s face, like he wanted to ask but realized that he probably didn’t want to know. Instead, he nodded again and retreated back over to the awkward huddle he’d been in before. He heard the discussion, Vince saying something to Leon, but nobody raised their voices or came back around to him, so Dom didn’t really give a shit about it. Two car doors slammed and then tires shifted on the gravelly pavement, Leon and Letty heading out to find them a spot to crash.

Brian pulled all of Dom’s attention back to him, coughing out of nowhere into the bottle and choking.

They both pretty much dropped the bottle, sending the cold water into Brian’s lap. Brian gasped, his breathing sounded almost wet. All the water he’d been sipping came spilling out of Brian’s mouth, drenching his shirt along with his pants.

Neither one of them moved, even with Brian puking up water.

“Brian, come on, breathe okay? Just calm down,” Mia said, running her hand over Brian’s cheek.

If Brian had control like that, they wouldn’t be having problems like they were, Dom thought a little bitterly. Hell, if any human had that control, medical costs would be way, way down. Convincing Brian that he really did want to breathe properly wasn’t going to do much. Instead Dom shifted behind him, pulling Brian up to sit straighter, since he’d noticed Brian doing that in the car when he’d coughed.

It seemed to help a little, at least. The coughing died down but the wet, painful breathing only eased so much.

That was going to be a real problem, Dom knew. Somewhere right between fever and vomiting, breathing problems were going to risk doing Brian in if he kept coughing like that.

They needed a new plan and fast.


	3. Chapter Three

_His ears were ringing._

Brian realized that consciously way before he realized that Dom’s mouth was moving but the words weren’t getting through. Dom was talking and fuck if Brian was listening.

Then hands moved him, made him get off his knees and sit down and god did that hurt. The muscles of his stomach protested and his head swirled dizzily and it nearly made him puke, or puke again, he realized distantly.

Then there was water, cool and delicious, against his lips and when Brian blinked a few times a water bottle in front of him. He reached up and grabbed it but Dom didn’t let go and the water was too good to risk spilling with his shaking so he didn’t care.

What he really would have liked was to pour the whole thing over his head and the entire bottle in his mouth, all at the same time. He couldn’t even get Dom to tip it further, so he could get more than a sip. He wanted to tell him to let him have some more but he was pretty sure that the second the water stopped and speaking started he’d start coughing and that sounded fucking awful. His throat felt like it was made out of glass shards and his stomach ached and his chest felt tight… coughing sounded like punishment that he wasn’t entirely sure he deserved.

The water helped clear his head, enough to bring his vision back at least. Everything had been just a little pinprick from pretty much the moment he’d woken up and that pinprick was finally widening, giving him a chance to catch up.

They were on the side of the road, he realized. That explained the hot sand at least. The shade of the car didn’t really do anything. Brian was sure he was burning, he was so hot.

Mia touched him then and Brian almost flinched because he’d blinked and she was suddenly there, worried and talking. Not talking to him, he figured, but talking to Dom. That was fine, so long as he didn’t have to answer.

Sound slowly came back online when the ringing started dying down. In the back of Brian’s mind, he decided this was the longest it had ever taken to snap back to himself after passing out or just nearly passing out. Not that he did it a lot, no matter what Dom thought, but sometimes he stood up too fast and it was just kind of a tall, skinny kid problem that he wasn’t really done with.

_“Yeah, Dom?”_

_“Take Letty, find a motel that’s got at least two room. The more secluded the better. Definitely someplace were we can park the cars in back, or something. That’ll be a quick way to spot us. Tell Vince to keep his eyes out until you get back.”_

What the fuck was Dom talking about?

And just like that, everything snapped back into place. Bounty Hunters, running, _La Muerte Bonita,_ riding with Dom and then puking his guts up on the side of the road.

And now Dom wanted to stop at some hotel and risk being caught, because of him. _No way, no fucking way._

Brian pulled the water bottle back and tried to tell Dom so but the cough came before the words did. The water got caught in his gasping and hacking and then all of it was on its way back.

Mia was there still though, talking quietly and telling him to breath. Dom shifted behind him and helped him sit up straighter. It felt kind of like he was breathing through a wet sock but it got better, kind of. It almost felt like he’d forgotten how to breathe the right way and he was waiting for that minute when he forgot he was trying to and just started doing it right.

“I’m okay,” He said when he could, breaking up Mia’s continued encouragement. She stopped talking, probably to make sense of his garbled words, “I’m okay, no stopping.”

“The hell you are,” Dom growled in his ear.

“I am, we can’t stop.”

“Your fever says otherwise, so does waking up and blowing chunks on the side of the road, so does the way you just nearly choked yourself coughing. Give it up, Brian. We have to stop.” Dom answered.

Brian shook his head, “Not safe.”

“I’ll make it safe. Don’t worry about that.” Dom answered, stubbornly. Like he could just snap his fingers and make them invisible so they could chill wherever they wanted but it didn’t work like that and Brian would rather die than be the reason they got caught.

“Dom…”

“If I help you, could you sit up in the car? Or do you think you might still be sick?” Dom asked. He sat up so he was crouched next to Brian.

Dom obviously wanted him in the car and that at least, Brian could understand. If anyone came by, they could get away fast instead of being flat on their asses on the side of the road out of the cars. With that in mind Brian nodded tightly, even though he wasn’t really sure it was true.

“Dom, maybe a few more minutes?” Mia said, watching him warily.

Dom sighed, “Can you grab him some sweats and a t-shirt from his bag, Mia?”

Brian felt his face heating up when she nodded and stood to get him some new clothes. Of course he’d need them, he was covered in water that was half fresh from the bottle and half fresh from Brian’s stomach. That wasn’t humiliating, not at all. And he’d just been sitting there, wet and not doing anything about it.

Dom gripped the back of his neck and turned him to face him, “Don’t worry about it, Mia don’t mind.”

“I mind.”

“No reason you should. Everyone gets sick sometimes, that’s what you have family for.” Dom said evenly. Sometimes words like those, because Dom said them often, made him feel warm and safe like a little kid who’d finally been noticed but it felt so good that he couldn’t even really mind. Other times it just made him feel like the only fucked up one in a family of people that knew what the hell they were doing with all of the love and support they wrapped themselves around in. This was definitely one of the latter times.

He didn’t really want to argue about it though. He was wet, Mia was bringing clothes and neither of them apparently cared about any of that, so he was just going to roll with it. He didn’t want to speak, because that hurt and he didn’t want to risk coughing, because that was sheer agony. So he kept his mouth shut and tried not to care when Mia passed Dom some clothes and stepped around to stand with Vince.

Dom looked back at him and the question was back in his eyes. Brian tried to look confident about it when he nodded. It would be a quick shift, just a foot over and like two feet up, but it felt like a massive distance that he wasn’t ready for. Dom hooked a hand around his back and the other in his belt loop to lever him up. He made it up into his seat in less than a minute but his vision swirled around him.

Dom knelt in front of him without a word. Brian wanted to push him away and do it himself but he was pretty sure if he leaned forward to get his shoes off like Dom was doing, he’d fall flat on his face. He definitely didn’t want to make Dom lift his ass back in the car again. Dom eased his shoes off and then reached for his fly for what was the least sexy reason ever, literally. Brian felt his face heat up, which he figured was a pretty good indication of just how miserably embarrassed he was because he was pretty hot already.

He pushed Dom’s hand away, “I got it.”

But his hands were shaking, so he didn’t really have it. Dom looked away and gave him a minute, unfolding the pants and draping the shirt over the door. It took Brian nearly that whole time to unbutton and unzip his jeans.

Pretty much the second Dom heard the zipper, he was back in front of Brian. “Lift your hips?” He asked quietly.

Brian grunted softly, not really willing to fight again after having taken an absurd amount of time to undo his own pants. He braced an arm underneath him and did as Dom asked, the bigger man sliding his pants off easily. Getting a new pair back on was harder, then dealing with his shirt harder still. Soon, though, he was wearing clothes that hadn’t just gotten drenched and Dom was using one of Leon’s shopping bags to stash his old clothes.

Brian licked his dry lips and aimed for casual, “So we’re taking a break for the night? Heading out in the morning?”

Dom glanced over at him, not snowed at all, “If you’re feeling better.”

“I will be,”

“I hope so.” He said simply. Brian didn’t like the sound of it. Dom didn’t seem to believe him one bit, even if he genuinely wished Brian would be fine in less than twenty four hours. The traitorous part of Brian, currently his body, said it was a useless wish.

Brian shifted in his seat carefully, wary of any movement that might set off more coughing. He pressed his face against the plastic of the interior, hoping it might be cooler than his skin.

Now that he wasn’t bringing everything he’d eaten since they’d left their last house behind up on the side of the road, there wasn’t a whole lot else to compete with how _hot_ he felt. His blood was close to boiling, he was pretty sure.

Dom’s rough hand carefully felt his forehead. He was gentle and his hand was cool, so Brian leaned his head forward and pressed against him.

“Take these, okay?” Dom said. Brian cracked his eyes open and saw some pills in Dom’s hand and a bottle of water under his arm. “We’ll see if we can find you something stronger later.”

Brian lifted a shaking hand up and took the pills, knocking them back with a sip of water. He handed the bottle back to Dom and glanced at him for a second before looking away, “If I suggested finding me a hotel room and continuing on yourselves… what would you say?”

Dom was silent. Brian didn’t want to look at him and see an answer, because he wasn’t really sure which one he wanted.

Dom’s hand tugged the water out of his and set it on the dashboard. Out of the corner of Brian’s eye, he saw the same hand come towards his face and turn his chin. Dom kissed him barely, just a little press of his lips against Brian’s, “I’d ask you what I did to make you think I’d ever leave you behind like that,” Dom breathed against Brian’s lips when he pulled back.

There wasn’t really anything else for Brian to say.

 

* * *

\-------------

* * *

 

 

“How do you want to do this, Dom? Patrols? Stay out of sight?” Vince asked quietly. Dom didn’t doubt that he had most of Vince’s attention, so he didn’t call V on the way his eyes kept wandering over to Mia, who had been silently fussing over Brian and the room for something like two hours.

Dom tilted his head to the side, trying to get the kinks out of it. Truth be told, he wasn’t really sure how to run this part of their escape. With a patrol they were seen, visible and a trail could be lead back to the motel Leon and Letty had spotted. Without one they were blind.

“He’s gettin’ worse, isn’t he?” Vince said, jerking his head over to Brian.

Dom glanced back, though he didn’t need to. He’d been keeping an eye on Brian all night, he didn’t need his eyes to tell him that the situation was going bad. “He’s going to need something stronger than this over the counter shit.” He settled on saying.

That was one reason they’d need to leave. Dom weighed the choices out in his head and as much as he didn’t like breaking up the team and sending them out without him, Brian’s raspy breathing and soaring fever wasn’t giving them many choices… or at least, not many easy ones.

“See if you can go scrounge up some meds for him? A doctor would be even better but I know people aren’t going to trust the newcomers so quick yet.” Dom said, turning back to Vince.

“That I can do.” Vince said. “I’ll take Letty. You know how women gossip and shit. Mia would probably be better, though.”

That was probably a given. Dom didn’t doubt Letty one bit, if for no other reason than she’d slug him across the mouth so fast he wouldn’t see it happening but Mia was definitely the softer of the two. People trusted her quick, especially women, who saw Letty’s sexuality and translated it out into ‘looking to steal my man’ whether Letty had done anything or not. Besides, with the way Mia looked right then, anyone would believe she was a desperate young lover trying to save her boyfriend. Dom shook the thoughts out of his head, because he didn’t really like the image.

“I know, but I’m gonna need her here.” He answered.

“I figured.” Vince said. He turned to go, but stopped. “What’s the shit he’s allergic to?”

Dom was impressed Vince remembered Brian was allergic to anything at all, let alone medication that he wouldn’t normally have anything to do with. “Penicillin.”

“So the shit that’s probably the easiest to get… right, of course. Why does your boy always have to be so fucking difficult?” Vince asked, cocking a smile to show Dom he didn’t really mean it.

Dom flashed him a tired smile. “Better not let him hear you say that.”

Vince slapped his shoulder and left without another glance to the bed. The door closed and Dom could hear Vince call for Letty. He’d have to remind V to keep it quieter for now. They were pretty secluded but they had to be cautious no matter what. They’d been cautious for months and they would have to be for many more. He wished he could find someplace on the planet that they could stay safe away from FBI agents, bounty hunters or any other government official but short of buying his own island and making up a law to ban extradition treaties and bounty hunters they didn’t really have any choices.

Well, they’d had a choice, _he’d_ had a choice and he’d chosen to drag his family into something that could get them killed or arrested. After that, all his choices were just illusions to hide the fact that there were no more real choices, just shitty and dangerous or shittier and more dangerous.

“Are you going to do that the whole time we’re here?”

Dom sighed, “Do what, Mia?”

“Brood,” She answered, bringing the ice machine bucket filled to the brim with icy water out from the bathroom. “Because I’m pretty sure there’s a brow that could use some moping.”

“Don’t want to deny you the chance to play nurse, little sister.” Dom said. He walked over to the side of the bed that Brian was restlessly shifting on all the same, though.

“He doesn’t even like it when you see him… not his best. He’ll really be upset if I do.” Mia said, probably more delicately phrased than he deserved.

Wasn’t that the damned truth? Dom sat down heavily in the seat next to the bed that he’d dragged over for pretty much the exact purpose he was putting it to. He dunked one of the motel washcloths in the cold water and gently laid it across Brian’s forehead. Brian kind of gasped and flinched but he settled back down quick.

“Better?” Dom said to him quietly. He wasn’t expecting a response.

“What if Vince can’t find anyone or any medicine?”

He sighed again, “Why do you have to ask things like that, Mia?”

She sat down at the edge of the bed, her face tense and worried but her eyes sympathetic. “It’s a valid question. Between Brian’s health and the bounty hunters, we don’t have a lot of room for error, Dom.”

“You think I don’t know that? This is on me, Mia, I’m damned aware.” He said. He wanted to yell, but Mia didn’t deserve that and neither did Brian. “He should be in a hospital, with a fever like he’s got. It’s my fault he can’t be. What else do you want me to say?”

“I guess I just want you to have seven plans and I want to know them too.” Mia said gently.

He turned back to Brian and traced his eyes over his lover’s flushed skin. “There aren’t enough choices for seven plans. If Vince can’t find anything, I’ll go out and try myself. If I can’t, we find a hospital and deal with whatever comes up there. That’s all there is, Mia.”

“There’s no way they could know someone in our team is sick. They might not even look in a hospital or a clinic.” Mia said. She was aiming for reassuring but it wasn’t really.

He shook his head, “If they’re tracking us by asking around, someone will have noticed Brian coughing or not eating. They’ll hear about Leon buying out a drug store, or about Vince asking around about doctors. It all depends on how good these guys are, but still, they’ll hear something.”

“And them asking around is how Vince found out about them, so we know they’re going to do it.” Mia finished Dom’s thoughts. She was starting to get it, finally, just how dangerous a hospital would be. Stopping was bad enough.

She saw the look on his face and reached over Brian’s bed to lay her hand on his arm, “They might have lost our trail, or driven past this town. We don’t know that they… Oh Brian, not again…”

Brian wasn’t listening though, couldn’t even if he wanted to. Instead, he started harshly coughing so hard Dom expected blood. It sounded wet and heavy now, which said things that Dom didn’t want to think about. He slid an arm under Brian’s back and lifted him up, propping him up against his shoulder. Mia grabbed the washcloth as it dropped down from Brian’s forehead and instead pressed it against his mouth. Dom was about to tell her off, because Brian was having a hard enough time breathing without her throwing more obstacles in his path but then she sharply struck him between the shoulders and Brian hacked something into the washcloth. His coughing eased off but it still sounded rough to Dom. It probably would for a while.

Mia glanced once into the washcloth then dumped it into the trashcan. “We should probably try to get him to do that more. Get it all out, you know?”

Dom nodded once to her, grateful she’d known something to do to help. There weren’t really words to say thank you that wouldn’t make her mad though so he kept them to himself. Brian shifted in his arms and Dom rubbed his hand down Brian’s arm. “Calm down, just lay still for a minute.” He said, even though he was pretty sure Brian was still out.

Brian hardly ever did what he was told but maybe they’d finally hit a point where he didn’t have any more fight in him. It wasn’t really reassuring but if it kept Brian still then he’d take it and ignore the rest. “That’s it,” He said quietly to Brian. Mia turned away, giving them at least a shot at privacy. “Breathe.”

It took a few minutes, but Brian’s breathing slowed and sounded maybe a bit easier, though Dom was also pretty aware that he might be grasping at straws. Either way, he didn’t think for a second that things were getting better, that _Brian_ was getting better.

His lover shivered in his arms, even though his skin was like fire. The truth was, nothing in the whole situation was getting better and Dom was afraid of just how bad it was going to get before that happened.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope no one minds this dueling POV thing I've got going on for the next couple of chapters. I just couldn't not show both of their thoughts. 
> 
> Thank you so much for all of the support for the story! It's so so appreciated.


	4. Chapter Four

The drive to the hotel after Brian’s wonderful little pit-stop on the side of the road was a close to miserable as he’d admit. By the time that Leon and Letty had gotten back with a hotel in mind, the pounding in his head had gotten so bad he was practically curled up in the passenger seat of Dom’s car with his eyes clenched shut. He wasn’t really sleeping, he was too hot and too sore and just too damned uncomfortable to manage it.

Dom had sat beside him, rubbing a hand over his back and generally keeping quiet. It helped but only so much. He wasn’t really sure when they’d gone from sitting on the side of the road to driving but it had happened without any input from Brian. He’d only really noticed it because he’d started coughing and breathing deep and Dom had asked quietly, “You need to stop again?”

“Stop?” He was pretty sure he sounded as pathetic and wrung out as he felt and that didn’t really help his mood any.

“Do you think you’re going to be sick?” Dom rephrased.

Brian’s head felt like it was going to explode if he tried to focus his thoughts on one thing and follow it through. Just by itself, thinking about whatever, his head hurt. He tried to think about it seriously but he made the mistake of opening his eyes and lifting them up from where he’d buried his face in his arm and the light made him gasp in pain. “Don’t…. don’t know. Too bright.”

He heard Dom shuffle some things around and then gently nudge his arm, “Put these on, Brian.”

He turned his head towards what Dom was handing him, feeling the sore muscles in his neck protest. “Huh?”

“Sunglasses. They’ll help until we get inside.” Dom said, “Put them on, Brian.”

“Okay,” He said, but it took an extra minute for his hand to catch up. Dom held the glasses still, even when Brian’s shaking hands nearly knocked them down. He got them on, barely. They helped a little, even if his breathing kind of hitched while he tried to breathe through the pain.

“Come here,” Dom said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and tugging him down to lay with his head in Dom’s lap. Brian went with it, although he was pretty sure it was more of a controlled fall more than anything. Once Brian’s head was on his leg, Dom draped his hand over the sunglasses and blocked out most of the light. Any ray that got in through his fingers got filtered through the sunglasses.  “We got like fifteen minutes before we’re at the motel, okay?”

Fifteen minutes was probably fine but Brian didn’t really trust himself to say anything, so he didn’t and Dom didn’t push.

He figured he’d kind of doze for the rest of the ride but it was pretty much impossible. He could feel every vibration of the motor, every tiny dip in the road… it all felt magnified in his body. He tried to ignore it or press to his head harder against Dom’s leg to try and keep the movements from getting to him but there wasn’t really anything he could do in a car. He wanted all the movement to stop, he wanted all the sound to go away and he wanted the sun gone.

Too soon for it to have been fifteen minutes, he started to feel like he’d been in the car for seven hours. He was almost sure that wasn’t true, that his head was just messing with him. Mostly, he was just trying to breathe and ignore the rest.

When he finally felt the car slow then turn into what he guessed was a parking lot, Brian thought he might cry with relief.

“Just under ten, babe. You doing okay?” Dom asked from above him as he killed the engine.

Brian didn’t dare nod, so he said “Yeah,” to answer Dom and stayed still otherwise. Dom waited a minute, probably for some cue from him, but Brian wasn’t too interested in moving so it didn’t come.

Dom eased him upright and Brian kept his eyes clenched shut. He didn’t want to see the world spinning around him like it felt and he definitely didn’t want to see the sun. He was maybe a little interested in seeing a bed but that was about it.

He heard the door to the car open on Dom’s side, then a quick conversation outside. Leon, maybe, but he didn’t try to listen too hard. Then his door was opening and Dom was there, steel arms around him and lifting him up.

“I can… I can walk.” He said, a little shaky. The sudden change of altitude sent his head spinning. Even still, he pressed his face against Dom’s neck, using the spot where it met his shoulder to keep the sun out.

“Get all those blinds closed, Mia,” Dom said, ignoring what Brian had just said. He wasn’t even really sure he’d said it out loud, so he didn’t mind for once.

He felt the cool darkness of the room hit his skin and he sighed… _finally_.  The relief hit him hard, sending him into a sort of blissed-out doze. When he opened his eyes again, Mia was sitting on the same bed he was suddenly laying in, frowning and looking more worried than he’d seen in a long time… and considering they were living on the run from the FBI that was kind of saying something.

“Just relax, Brian. Do you think you’ll be able to sleep?” She asked.

He stared at her, probably creepily and for too long, if the look she started giving him said anything. He’d been sleeping for hours… except it the sun was still rising, just like it had been when they’d gotten to the hotel and Mia was wearing the same clothes and Dom was walking back in the room carrying their bags.

Mia was probably waiting for an answer but he didn’t really have one to give. Yeah, he thought he was gonna be able to sleep just fine. He’d of said that but he blinked again and then he was gone.

He went in and out from there. He’d guess that he never really woke up for long but it was kind of hard to tell considering how sure he’d been that he had slept hours when it had only been minutes.

He alternated between temperatures, burning one minute and freezing the next. The blankets he was under felt stifling, too heavy no matter how he felt. He’d kick at them but someone was always there fixing them, pinning him down again.

There were always voices around him, usually Dom and Mia. The Torettos never seemed to leave and he was reassured by it. Vince had come and talked to Dom, their voices low rumbles from across the room. Sometimes Leon was there, mostly staying for a few minutes and then leaving again. Once, he’d been hacking up a lung and suddenly it had been Letty in his ear, telling him to breathe.

After a while, it was Vince again, his voice sounding almost concerned. Brian wasn’t sure he wanted to believe that, because it was definitely a sign that he’d gone right past having a cold and into ‘has a day to live’.

He strained his ears, trying to listen in on that conversation.

 “…who else to talk to. They were all ready to sell me any over the counter meds I wanted but nobody was willing to give me anything better. I offered all kinds of money, man. It’s a tourist town, they’re too used to stupid Americans getting into shit they shouldn’t.” Vince said quietly. “I might be a little too gringo for the job,”

Mia sighed, right beside him. It sounded shaky, like she was upset and he tried to move his head to tell her not to worry so much but the movement sent a stab of pain from his head through his neck and all the way down to his chest. He made sort of a strangled noise, the words he’d wanted to say to her choked up.

It was Dom that came over to him, though, not Mia. He could feel his calloused hand run down the side of his face, “Take it easy, Brian.”

Then there was Letty, “You go out so soon after us, Dom, they ain’t going to give you anything.”

“I got that, Letty.” Dom said, short.

That sounded okay to Brian, he didn’t really want Dom to go anywhere. He licked his dry lips, “Stay,”

“I will, for now,” Dom answered. He sounded a little surprised, though Brian wasn’t sure why. He didn’t get a chance to ask though because Dom was already beyond that, “You want some water?”

“Or some soup?” Mia said, almost cutting her brother off.

“No,” He said, his stomach twisting at the thought.

Mia’s voice went sweet, like she wanted to talk him into something, “Just broth, Brian. I’ll water it down, even, it won’t make you sick.”

He didn’t answer right away but she got up and he heard her moving things around not far from them. He said _No_ again, though he kind of figured it was too late.

“Just try, Brian, okay?” Dom asked him.

There was something in Dom’s voice that kind of freaked him out. He sounded off… “You okay?” He asked. He opened his eyes to look at Dom but snapped them shut again right away. The light still hurt, even if they didn’t have very many lights on and the blinds were closed. “Dom?” Brian breathed out.

Dom didn’t answer, he just leaned down and kissed Brian’s forehead.

When Mia came back, he was mostly asleep. He felt her hand against his cheek, trying to shake him just a little to get him to open his eyes for them. His eyelids were too heavy and everything was bleeding away from his head. Their voice sounded far away but he knew they weren’t. He sighed and then there was a spoon at his lips and warm soup in his mouth. He swallowed, even though it made his throat ache.

“That’s good, Brian, try some more.” Dom whispered.

It eased the sting, so he opened his mouth again and the spoon came back. He let it happen a few more times before he couldn’t even put the thought into opening his mouth and swallowing. His mind eased off into sleep and he didn’t fight it anymore.

 

 

 

* * *

\-------------

* * *

 

 

 

There was someone looking through the window.

Brian blinked again but the eyes didn’t go away. They stared in, though the glass, through the curtain, watching them. He lifted his head up from the hot pillow to try and get up but he couldn’t manage it. Where the hell was he?

The room swirled around him and he didn’t recognize it. A new house? They were running, they’d left the old one. This was the new house? He should remember.

Brian closed his eyes, feeling sick with the rush of the room. He wanted it to sit still, he wanted the eyes to stop watching him. When he opened them again, the face in the window grinned at him.

**_We found them. Toretto and the sister are in the back._ **

Dom? Brian turned his head to look and Dom was by his side, dozing in a chair. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. _Get up Dom, they see you._

**_Move in on my word. We just need to get a visual on the rest._ **

Panic sent Brian’s heart racing. He could feel it throbbing in his chest. He forced himself up, ignoring the trembling in his arms. The room kept swirling around him, the rush going faster and he moaned quietly, so they wouldn’t hear.

But that didn’t matter, did it? They could see him. They were watching. He could hear their words in the walls, through the windows…

He dragged himself to the other side of the bed, closer to the window and stumbled out of bed, barely upright. The face in the window straightened up, standing now that it knew he knew.

**_Get ready to go in. Take down Toretto first. There’s a cell in Lompoc with his name on it._ **

“No!” He said, slamming his hand down on the glass. He’d be damned before he let Dom go back. No fucking way. They’d have to kill him first. They’d have to…

“Brian! Jesus, Bri, what are you doing?”

“Dom,” He said, whispering, “You have to get out of here. We need to go.”

“Go where, baby? You need to get back in bed.” Dom said, coming up behind him. His hands were out, like he thought Brian was something wild that needed gentling. They’d walk in, see his hands out like he was surrendering and clap the cuffs on him before he could even fight back.

“Run, Dom. Listen to me!” He tried again. Why didn’t Dom hear them talking? He could hear the one outside laughing, laughing at him. He slammed his hand down on the glass again, “Shut your mouth!”

Arms came around him, pulling him back from the window. They’d already gotten in! He could hear the door slamming open… “Get off of me! You fucking bastard!” He struggled but it wasn’t enough. His whole body felt like it was shutting down and the arms around him weren’t letting loose. “Let go, let go, let go…”

Every time he jerked his body, his vision started whiting out at the sides. They were fucked. They would have to leave him behind…

The thought sent him reeling. He didn’t know what was worse, Dom caught because Brian wasn’t strong enough to shake the guy off or Dom leaving him behind. “Dom, Dom…” He called but he wasn’t sure the words were coming out right. He could barely breathe.

His foot slipped out from underneath him and Brian was gone before he hit the ground.


	5. Chapter Five

Dom wasn’t even sure when he’d officially fallen asleep. He’d been cruising on a light doze for most of the night, unwilling to lay down for real in case things with Brian changed either way but his body was exhausted after the last couple of days of being awake nearly that entire time. He’d settled for the twenty minute shots of that first stage of a nap where you knew you were one minute from being really out but it already felt like you were getting some good sleep in. Just under enough that he would be able to hear Brian if he started hacking up a lung again.

Or at least, that had been the plan and damn if it hadn’t gone spectacularly wrong.

When the sound of banging glass shot him awake, he’d stared stupidly at the empty bed for a second.

Brian’s harsh breathing from across the room got his attention. His lover was standing up, out of bed and shivering violently, shouting at an empty window. “Brian! Jesus, Bri, what are you doing?”

Brian didn’t look back at him right away, his eyes were still locked on the window. The curtains were partially closed, and the sun was still down since it was roughly four in the morning so Dom wasn’t sure what he could see out there that had him so damned upset.

“Dom,” Brian whispered, “You have to get out of here. We need to go.”

Dom swore under his breath. That wasn’t the answer that he’d been looking for. It made no fucking sense but then he didn’t think Brian was operating in reality anyway. His fever had been holding steady at _damned high_ for most of the night and Dom and Mia had been desperately hoping for it to break soon. He was guessing it had gone the other way, spiking so high Brian was left in a delirious daze. What the fuck was he going to do?

First things first, he needed to get Brian out of whatever hell he was currently seeing. He stepped around the bed slowly, sensing the blonde was about ready to freak out spectacularly if anyone moved the wrong way in front of him. He held his hands out, trying to make himself seem less like a threat. “Go where, baby? You need to get back in bed.”

It didn’t seem to help. Brian shook his head so hard Dom could see the blue of his eyes nearly roll up into his head with dizziness. “Run, Dom.” He said, the words slurred. “Listen to me!”

Dom nodded to him, like that made perfect sense and they were definitely going to do it. “I’m listening, Brian. We’ll run together, come here and…”

It was Brian that wasn’t listening though, or at least he wasn’t listening to Dom. He whirled back around, nearly sending himself off his feet and slammed his hand back down on the glass, “Shut your mouth!”

Dom winced. If Brian kept that up, he’d break his hand through the glass and they’d have blood to throw into the fuckstorm they were already in. Dom took the chance of Brian’s back being turned and came up around him to wrap his arms around Brian’s shaking body. “Stop, Brian. Let’s get away from the window.” He said gently, trying to pull him back. He could hear the doors from the other rooms opening and felt a little bit of relief at the thought of backup. He had a pretty good idea of what needed to happen next and he’d been trying to avoid it for just how damned upsetting and uncomfortable it would be for Brian but there didn’t seem like any other choices. He would need some help for sure.

Almost the second he started pulling Brian from the window, he started to struggle. He threw his whole body into trying to get Dom off of him, as though his life literally depended on it. “Brian, stop. It’s just me, it’s Dom, you’re okay.”

“Get off of me!” Brian shouted over Dom’s attempts to calm him, “You fucking bastard! Let go, let go, let go…”

The door burst open and Vince rushed in, Mia right on his heels. “Fuck man, I thought you were being murdered or something.” Vince said. There was relief in his voice, because they obviously _weren’t_ being murdered, but he still looked freaked out.

“Dom… Dom…” Brian called faintly. Dom didn’t get the chance to answer before Brian was dead weight in his arms, passed out cold.

Dom didn’t give him the chance to hit the floor. He swung Brian up in his arms, which was a lot easier to do now that Brian wasn’t fighting him with everything his body had left. “Mia, start a bath. Lukewarm.”

Mia didn’t hesitate. She saw the same thing Dom did… that they didn’t have a lot of time to play with before the fever started actively threatening Brian’s life. Dom could hear the tub filling up from the bathroom before he’d even managed to put Brian back on the bed. He ripped the blonde’s shirt off of him, literally right down the center. He left the boxers where they were, mostly because Vince was still standing there like an idiot.

Except Vince wasn’t really standing there like an idiot after all.  He could hear V zipping up his hastily thrown on pants and stepping closer, “What do you need me to do? I can go out, try again and take Mia with me?”

“Too much attention. I’ll try myself.” Dom said shortly. He pulled Brian back up in his arms and tried not to listen to the way his breathing caught when Dom moved him. “Tell the others what happened and stay close in case we need help. Otherwise Mia and I have it.”

“You got it, man,” Vince said.

Dom didn’t wait to hear Vince leave the room, he just carried Brian’s limp body into the bathroom. Mia had the water halfway up and still running. They’d have to cover him as much as possible if it was going to help.

“He’s going to hate this,” Mia said. She wasn’t really warning him, partly because he knew and partly because it didn’t matter. This was the only option they had left that didn’t involve a hospital, so really, it was the only option at all.

Dom slowly lowered Brian in the water, ignoring the way his back protested leaning over with a full-grown man in his arms. Still, he got Brian in well enough. Once Brian was laying in it, Dom knelt down and sat down next to the water. “Got a cup or something?”

Mia nodded and handed him one of those complementary cups hotels left by the sink. He dunked it in the tub and poured the cool but not cold water over Brian’s head, getting his hair wet. Brian made a startled noise, almost like a whine. Dom definitely wouldn’t call it that out loud where Brian might hear him, though. “Bri? Open your eyes for me, okay?”

Brian’s eyes fluttered open, the confusion in them obvious. The question was, how confused was he? Did he still think Dom was a bounty hunter or was he just confused about waking up in a tub. One was forgivable and the other was dangerous.

“Talk to me, Brian.”

“Dom,” Brian said, his voice shaky to the point that Dom was pretty sure if he said much more there wasn’t a guarantee that he and Mia were going to understand it. “Dom, we have… we have to…”

“We don’t have to do anything or go anywhere, Brian. I promise.” Dom said, trying to catch Brian’s eye. It wasn’t really possible, though, with the way that his eyes were rolling around the room, not really focusing on anything.

“Help me,” Brian slurred, his hands nearly flailing out of the bath to try and push himself up and out, but they were shaking so badly he couldn’t get a grip on the slick porcelain of the tub to lever himself from the water.

“I am, baby, trust me,” Dom said, catching his reaching hand and holding it in his. He kept talking, mostly the same thing over and over because he was pretty sure that Brian was barely catching single words, let alone whole sentences. He kept pouring water down wherever Brian wasn’t submerged and Mia occasionally drained out some of the lukewarm water for some colder stuff, so they were gradually bringing his temperature down, instead of shocking his whole system with literal ice.

He felt sort of like scum for making Brian feel worse but it was working. Already he didn’t look so flushed and his skin didn’t feel like it was boiling. He stopped trying to get out of the tub or mumbling at Dom to help him as his temperature pulled back from the delirious edge it had brought him to.

Then, finally, Brian said his name and sounded like himself again and Dom nearly knelt down all the way, bowed his head and thanked God.

“Yeah, Bri?” He said instead.

“Why am I in a tub?” Brian asked quietly.

Behind them, Mia took a step back into the main room to probably to give them some privacy. Mostly, though, he figured it was so Brian wouldn’t realize he was wet and nearly naked with his nearly-sister was standing over him watching.

“Your fever got too high.” Dom answered, keeping it simple. If Brian didn’t remember anything else, then that was honestly fine by him.

Brian didn’t say anything in response and Dom wasn’t surprised. He looked exhausted, even though he’d been asleep for hours. To be fair, it wasn’t really what anyone could call good sleep. Brian’s eyes closed and he relaxed back onto the edge of the tub.

The cool water had clearly done its job like Dom hoped it would but it wasn’t going to last forever if he didn’t find Brian at least some antibiotics worth a damn. Even better, a doctor who could look him over without asking too many questions. Once he got Brian out of the tub and back into bed that was the next step.

If he couldn’t find any meds or any doctors?

It was a hospital, plain and simple. He’d sent the rest of the team to the next location he’d lined up and he would stay behind with Brian, bounty hunters and risk be damned.

 

* * *

\--------------- 

* * *

 

 

Brian let his head rest heavily on the pillow behind him, not even bothering to prop himself up and talk to Mia or Dom. They were talking between themselves anyway, and looked pretty intense about it. Mostly, he wanted to lay back and enjoy the bed _not_ feeling like lava. They could work out whatever the problem was between the two of them without his input, because right now his input was limited to pretty basic things like ‘cool sheets’ and ‘hell yeah sanity’.

He figured they’d come over to him if they wanted to talk and even then it would probably be about trying soup or something. He wasn’t really looking forward to the conversation but he’d give it a shot if for no other reason than he was getting the impression that he really, _really,_ owed them.

Sure enough, Dom broke from the Toretto huddle when Mia was mid-sentence and biting her lip.

“I’m gonna head out just for a little while, okay?” Dom asked without explaining anything.  He sat down on the edge of the hotel bed and ran his hand over Brian’s forehead. It would have been a kind of weird gesture to make with Mia right there but Brian was more or less aware of the fact they’d both been doing it a lot.

Brian wanted to ask Dom to stay with him, because he felt not quite so disoriented when he woke up and Dom was there, but he could see on the man’s face that he was one, going no matter what and two, anticipating having to hear Brian whine about it. Well, Dom probably wouldn’t have called it whining but that’s sort of how it would feel to Brian, even if Dom wouldn’t agree.

What he wanted to say was something strong like _Be safe_ or _Take your time_ but what came out was a quiet “Back soon?”

Before he could take it back, Dom had leaned down and gently kissed him, “As soon as I can. Try and drink some of what Mia’s got for you.”

He stood up and let Mia swoop in, a bottle of something orange and sports drink looking in her hand. She had a straw at the ready and held it in front of him even while his eyes followed Dom out the door. The bigger man hadn’t looked back and Brian was kind of grateful for it.

“Brian?” Mia asked, bringing his attention back to her instead of a closed door. “Think you can try some?”

His stomach felt kind of iffy but his throat was pretty dry, so it actually wasn’t much of a stretch for him to agree and catch the straw between his lips. He had the sipping thing down cold but he was still a lot wary of coughing or doing anything to bring coughing on. He could tell Mia was too, because she watched him with a hell of a lot of braced worry on her face.

He drank slowly until a third of the bottle was gone. From there, his stomach started cramping up. Nothing really awful, but sort of like a warning. He was taking it too, because there was no way he was puking orange in front of Mia.

“Where’s he going?” He asked while he laid his head back down tiredly. It was fucking pathetic how tired he was. He wasn’t entirely clear on how long he’d been asleep before but it couldn’t have been too short a time. That meant he’d probably slept an entire day away and his eyelids were already trying to drop for another twenty-four hours.

Mia hesitated, but answered him anyway. “To find a doctor for you.”

“Fuck…” Brian said. “That’s… that’s a bad idea.”

“It’s an important one, so trust him, okay?”

It wasn’t that Brian didn’t trust Dom, because he did absolutely. It was more that it was a huge risk and it wasn’t one that Brian thought was totally worth it. He didn’t know what he’d do if Dom didn’t make it back safe.

Mia caught his face in her hand and lifted it back up to look at her, “Hey, don’t worry so much. Just get some rest, okay?”

That was easy for her to say. Or, if his scrambled brain was making any sort of sense interpreting her expression, it _wasn’t_ easy for her to say. She was worried too, and not just about Dom. She stroked his wet hair back from his forehead and Brian gave in, closing his heavy eyelids. He didn’t sleep, though, he fought it with everything he had left. He wanted to wait until Dom was back, until he knew the other man was safe.

The talking around his bed dropped to hushed whispers and Brian drifted, spacing out when he’d meant to pay attention, to stay awake until Dom came back. It was kind of a useless hope, though. Every inch of his body was an exhausted wrung-out mess. When he felt like he was going too far under, he opened his eyes stubbornly, then let them shut.

He opened them.

Shut.

Opened.

Shut.

Opened.

_Old man._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one after this!


	6. Chapter Six

The talking around his bed dropped to hushed whispers and Brian drifted, spacing out when he’d meant to pay attention, to stay awake until Dom came back. It was kind of a useless hope, though. Every inch of his body was an exhausted wrung-out mess. When he felt like he was going too far under, he opened his eyes stubbornly, then let them shut.

He opened them.

Shut.

Opened.

Shut.

Opened.

_Old man._

He surged forward, or at least he wanted to. The room took a sharp turn the to right and kept spinning while about four different sets of hands pushed him back down gently. The old man’s were one of them.

“Who… who? Dom?” Brian slurred.

“I’m here,” Dom said, from his left. “Lay down, everything is okay.” It was his hand that Brian stopped fighting against, although his tense muscles ached and he wouldn’t stop bracing them even on Dom’s word. There was a pause and Dom’s hand stayed where it was, “He’s just a doctor, Brian.”

The old man nodded and the movement brought his eyes down to the stethoscope hanging around the man’s neck. Slowly, the tension leaked out of him. Dom had found someone.

“Yes, that’s better,” The doctor said gently and with a strong accent, “You let him give you these pills and then you go back to sleep. Sleep is good.”

He’d rather do the man one better and jump right to that sleeping thing. He’d been awake for about two minutes but was two too many. His head was swimming and pounding all at the same time. It would be the asshole move, though, because Dom probably put in a lot of effort to get this guy for him. So he accepted the pills Dom brought to his lips and swallowed them with only a little wince. It wasn’t from his sore throat though, it’s from the catch he could feel in his chest when he got the pills and the water down.

Once the pills were down, no one seemed liked they cared if he went to sleep. The voices blended and he only heard the words like they were swirling around him.

 _Dehydration… pneumonia… amoxicillin_ …

It’s that last word that caught his attention, ingrained in him from a lifetime of the adults around him changing and so none of them could really be counted on to remember what meds he could and couldn’t have. “Can’t…” He mumbled.

“Shh, Brian, I know.” Dom said to him. Brian cracked an eye open and saw Dom sitting on the bed beside him, talking quietly to the doctor. His voice was pitched lower for the doctor than he’d spoken to him but he caught the general idea. No penicillin and no amoxicillin. The doctor frowned but nodded.

Job done, Brian let his eyes shut. He drifted some more and barely startled when he felt a sting in his arm. _How am I so tired?_ All he had been doing was sleeping. They were in danger and he was sleeping. He fucking hated it. The thought made him fight the need, but in the end, was the coughing that put him back under and not easily.

 

 

* * *

\---------------

* * *

 

 

 

“Dom!”

Dom tore his eyes from the slow drip of Brian’s IV to the door. Vince opened it for Leon and Letty, who looked spooked. He gave himself the split second to close his eyes and tilt his head back in exhaustion… _I guess our time is up._

“What?” He asked, opening his eyes again.

Letty’s fists were clenched. Seeing her genuinely scared wasn’t something that came up often. “We saw them down at the pharmacy we went to for Brian yesterday.”

 _Damn,_ So not only had they figured out that one of them was sick, they had also followed their trail. Whether they were using the pharmacy angle to search each town they went through or they had penned them into this town was the real question. “Did you hear what they were asking?”

Leon nodded grimly, “They wanted to know about a blond man coming in sick, an outsider. They described the rest of us, but she’s never seen you, me and Mia obviously. Just Letty and Vince but they went in separate days so I guess Letty looked local enough that she didn’t think much of her. She didn’t mention having seen her, at least.  He described Vince though and the girl said she had seen a man like that a few days ago.” He explained. “I’m damn glad I didn’t go, man. Two white guys in a row would have made more of an impression. Just Vince is bad enough.”

Vince shifted by the door and Dom could see the guilt clawing. “It’s not your fault, V.” He said, “Any one of us could have been the one. If she had seen me, she would have remembered me too.”

“You’re going to have to wear long sleeves until we blow out of here, Vince.” Letty said. “And shave. We can’t do much about ‘white’ and ‘tall’, but she got you on the other two.”

“Done.” Vince answered. He rubbed his hand over the tattoos and scars on his arm.

Mia came and sat down on the end of Brian’s bed, the sandwich she had been making herself sitting forgotten on a plate in her lap. Dom nudged her hand towards it and she barely bothered to glare at him before she took a small bite. With all the reminding to eat and outright feeding he’d done in the last few days he had never felt more like his mother.

Once Mia swallowed, she said, “At least they’re looking for Brian. If she remembered Vince, she definitely would have remembered Brian. They must not realize that he’s _really_ sick.”

“Oh _shit_ ,” Vince practically moaned, “I asked that place about a doctor.”

“She didn’t tell them that. Either it was another girl you asked, but that place was a tiny as hell so I doubt it, or she didn’t remember.” Letty answered.

“How did you guys even hear all of this?” Mia asked.

Leon grinned, “We were about a minute behind him. Damn lucky it wasn’t the other way around. Between the open door and the open window we could hear them pretty well.”

“He didn’t see you?” Dom questioned.

“No, he didn’t.” Letty answered. When Dom kept staring, she rolled her eyes, “I’m sure.”

Mia turned to him, eyes full of worry. “What do we do?”

Dom looked back down at Brian. He was on his second dose of the azithromycin the doctor had given them after Dom had explained about Brian’s allergy. They were lucky he’d had something that was pretty good against pneumonia on him, otherwise they would have had to wait for him to come and Brian would have only gotten one dose so far. Between that and the IV that had bags on it Dom didn’t pretend to one hundred percent understand – though Mia did and approved – Brian had been looking a bit better. His fever was down, thank God, and his breathing seemed to be easing up a little. When he coughed more gunk came up but that was a good thing too. Dom especially appreciated that Brian had been unconscious for that development, because if he knew that Dom and Mia were even aware of something so gross he’d be so embarrassed the blush might never leave his face.

Finally, he was getting better. Dom wanted to give him more time but he didn’t think there was much more to give.

“This place is out of the way. Get everything packed and as much in the cars as we can. If we can, I want to wait for the doctor to come back and check everything over but if we have to, we’ll run sooner.” Dom answered finally. Brian’s delirious nightmare came back to Dom like a sledgehammer, “And I want eyes on the road leading into here. Even a one minute warning is enough.”

 

* * *

\---------------

* * *

 

 

 _We need to leave_.

Everything in Dom’s body screamed it. If the bounty hunters caught up to them… His gut clenched at the thought. Not for himself, although he knew that two of the three outcomes of a confrontation with them ended with Dom dead or in jail, but for the rest of them.

Especially for Brian. Even if he weren’t sick, although that worried the hell out of Dom too. If they got caught, there was no guarantee that the ones taking them would be humane enough to give him his medication or anything else. No, it was more the ‘dirty cop’ label that could get attached to him in a jail that gave Dom nightmares.

Mia’s cell ringing jerked Dom out of his dark thoughts.

She answered it instantly, “Leon?” A pause, “Okay, we’re ready.”

“They see something?” Dom said, standing instantly. His hands went down to the needle stuck in Brian’s skin, ready to pull it out and scoop him up.

“No, no,” Mia shook her head. “The doctor is coming back. Leon saw him from the road.”

Dom relaxed, just a bit. Still standing, he walked over to the wall dividing the rooms and pounded on it. He heard that door open and then theirs, Vince and Letty coming in.

“We have a problem?” Letty asked.

“We’re one big problem.” Dom sort of joked, “Doctor’s on his way up. Unless he says moving Brian is out of the question, I want to be out of here after he goes in ten.”

Vince nodded, “We’re ready. The last of it is his meds and shit.”

Dom went to the window and pulled the curtains aside. He was glad that no one was asking the question of _what if the doctor says Brian can’t be moved?_ He didn’t think that was going to be the answer they got though. Now that he wasn’t in danger of boiling his own blood there was only the coughing to worry about. Every dose of medicine he got was going to get him better. That could happen in this hotel room or seven towns away in some other one.

The doctor’s little sedan pulled up and found a parking spot by their cars. Dom caught the way he looked over their cars with calculation in his eyes. Hopefully it was just for a higher price, which Dom would gladly pay, and not that he was thinking about selling them out.

Vince opened the door before the doctor got a chance to knock. “Thank you,” The doctor said as he entered. “How is my patient doing?”

“A lot better, we think.” Mia said, guiding him around to Brian’s side.

The doctor sat by Brian and Dom watched his short little examination. He listened carefully to Brian’s lungs. At least someone needed a stethoscope to do it now, as opposed to just their own ears from when his breathing was so loud it could be heard through walls. He moved around, checking a few more things before stepping back and smiling at them, “I think your friend well on his way.”

“That’s… that’s good.” Dom admitted in one sigh. “That’s what I thought too.”

The doctor nodded and his smile grew a little tense, “So I think it is time that you moved on from this place.”

Dom froze. He heard Mia take in a sharp breath beside him. Vince took a step forward but Dom held a hand up. The man didn’t look hostile and with the way he had eyed their cars, it was obvious he needed to be heard out. He inclined his head, “Why?”

“This town is my home, my friend, I do not wish to see bloodshed here. There are men asking about you all, they came to me, asking if I had made any house calls lately for a blond man. There might be others, they told me, they described all of you perfectly.” The doctor explained. His voice was gentle, but there was a firmness there that Dom could respect.

Mia shifted next to the man. She laid a hand over his, “Doctor, what did you tell them?”

He patted Mia’s hand comfortingly, “That I had seen no one and had not gone on a house call in days.”

“Thank you,” She whispered. Dom heard the tremor in her voice and ached to pull her to him. Now wasn’t the time, though, they had to be ready. He owed her so much he would never make good on his debt but he would try. He truly would.

The doctor acknowledged her thanks with another smile and turned back to Dom. “You will go now, yes?”

“Yes,” Dom answered immediately. They were riding on this man’s goodwill. If they didn’t leave when he asked, he could sell them out immediately. For his information he could name the terms.

“Good, good. I will help you get him ready for the drive. I wish you luck, my friends.”

 

* * *

\---------------

* * *

 

 

Four doses of antibiotics and two IV bags later and Dom finally felt like the pressure on his shoulders was letting up. Brian was finally, _finally,_ on the mend and it was clear to see. His skin wasn’t so gray, he wasn’t struggling to breathe and he wasn’t boiling hot. True, he hadn’t been conscious since his last coughing fit had laid him flat but they’d managed to get the pills down him all the same.

At the point they were at, consciousness wasn’t real high on his list of priorities. Brian swallowed the pills they gave him easily enough and Dom could carry him to the car without any cooperation on his end. So that was what he’d done. They needed to blow out of the town in the worst way.

Luckily, that had been the plan even before the doctor had gently but firmly told them to take their bounty hunters and problems and get the hell out of his town. He had even gone so far as to set Brian up with his own portable IV situation, right in the car. He settled up with the hotel and the doctor and they were gone.

He thought a bit about doubling back and going in the opposite direction expected but if the team looking for theirs split up in any way they’d be screwed. It wasn’t worth the risk. He was going to have to keep going and stop along the way to rest when they could. They were in for a lot of single nights crashing in cheap rooms until they could find their way back around to where Dom had intended all along. It wouldn’t be safe to go there until they were sure the heat was off though.

He wanted to drive as far as he could immediately, just to be safe, but even he had limits and he’d lapped them twice over for Brian. Gladly but still, he was tired and he knew the rest of the team was too. They would go as far as Brian could for the next stretch and stop when it suited. After that they all had some rest to catch up on and, even considering he had been mostly asleep for days, Brian needed it most of all. Hell, Dom would need some rest just for the work it would be getting Brian to sit down and let himself heal once he started feeling even fifty percent better. Keeping after Brian to eat regularly and take a break when he needed it wasn’t easy.  

It had only been over the last six or so hours that Brian seemed to rest comfortably. Now, though, with the way he was shifting it seemed like he was getting ready to wake up and give Dom a chance to reassure himself that Brian hadn’t fried his brain with his fever. That would be a load off his mind for sure.

“Bri? You with me?” He called over, making sure to keep his voice quiet just in case Brian _wasn’t_ really waking up and it had just been wishful thinking on Dom’s part.

Sure enough, Brian’s face scrunched up like he was thinking real hard about something. So he called his name again and glanced back and forth between him and the road.

“Dom?”

 _Jackpot_.

“Hey, babe, gonna wake up for me?” Dom teased, reaching out and grabbing Brian’s hand.

Slowly, he was rewarded with sleepy blue eyes. “Where are we goin’?” He asked, blinking at the car. His eyes rolled over the interior to rest on the makeshift IV stand that they’d set up. “Is that an IV?”

“Yeah, so don’t touch it. As for where we’re going… _away_ is pretty much the best answer I can give you. It was getting a little hot in town so once the doc gave you the clear to go we packed up.” Dom explained.

“Doctor?” He asked.

Dom glanced at Brian critically, “Yeah, the doctor. You talked with him for a minute, remember?”

Brian sat up slowly and rubbed his free hand over his eyes. There was a long pause but he was clearly thinking it over so Dom let it run. “Yeah… yeah I do?”

“That sounds real confident.”

“He told me to take pills and go back to sleep. I’ve been getting a lot of that lately so it kind of blends, man.” Brian answered.

“So long as you’re up to speed, we’re good.” Dom answered.

Brian squeezed his hand, “We’re good. I think I went a little nuts in the middle there but I feel better.”

“Yeah?” Dom asked, glad to hear it in ways he couldn’t even put into words.

Brian waited until Dom glanced over at him and grinned, “Yeah.”

Dom felt most of the tension in his body drain off, _finally_. “You’re always a little nuts.”

“Aww, I love you too.”

He cracked a slow smile. Brian was going to be just fine, so he would too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so, so much for the support! I struggled a bit with where I wanted to end it, since it could obviously go on far beyond this point. That's an undertaking I couldn't comfortably take on though, so this felt right for me and the story. I really hope you enjoy the ending and the whole ride in general. 
> 
> Again, THANK YOU!


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